Feeding mechanism



United States Patent 3,291,481 FEEDING MECHANISM Edward S. Godlewski, Melrose Park, Ill. (531 Walnut St, Des Plaines, Ill.) Filed Apr. 6, 1965, Ser. No. 446,023 20 Claims. (Cl. 271-10) This invention relates to mechanisms for individually feeding stocks of material particularly sheets of paper of various surface condition and thickness.

Various attempts have been tried heretofore to develop an accurate feeding mechanism of the type having a magazine which carries a stack of paper or cards arranged shingle fashion and dispensed by a feed roller mechanism at the lower end of the tray. In accurate feeding encountered by such mechanism required providing various expensive watching devices such as electric eyes and other signaling devices. This would alert the operator to the malfunction and would require resetting or manually adding the missed article. Such activity normally shuts down the equipment which delays production. The sensing devices do not cure the problem, they merely recognize it and serve as a safety measure.

This invention is directed to a novel positive feed mechanism which eliminates misses.

A general object of the invention is to incorporate into the feeder a novel supplementary device which positively moves each succeeding item to its initial position in contact with the feed roller to insure that as soon as the feed roller is activated it will engage and feed the item intended to be dispersed.

The invention comprehends providing on the retard an auxiliary soft roller of foamed plastic, such as polyurethane, which is driven by the feed roller and which is disposed in intercepting relation to the stock such as a card or sheet of paper next to be fed and engages such stock at moments slightly before the preceding stock is completely discharged by the feed roller so that upon the feed roller stopping with the discharge of the last piece of stock, the next piece is already positively placed to engaging position with the feed roller.

The invention further contemplates a novel adjustment for the retards, certain adjustment advancing or projecting the retards toward and away with respect to the discharge edge of the magazine tray and/or the feed roller and other adjustment limiting and varying the pressure at which the retard is held in cooperating position with the feed roller whereby adjustment for the texture, thickness and coefficient of friction of the stock is available.

The invention contemplates a yieldable adjustment for the retards of such nature that the pressure may gradually vary from one end of the feed roller to the other or may be varied along the length of the feed roller in accordance with the physical characteristics of the material being handled.

Another object of the invention is to provide on the retards a soft roller which is capable of dragging a sheet of stock to feed position but which then deflects to such an extent as to be ineffective to move the sheet of stock beyond the position where it is engaged by the feed roller.

These and other objects and advantages inherent in the invention will become more readily apparent from the specifications and the drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of my novel feeding mechanism taken substantially on line 1-1 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially in the planes indicated by the lines 22 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on line 33 of FIGURE 2, and

3,291,481 Patented Dec. 13, 1966 FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of one retard with a shield thereon.

Describing the invention in detail there is shown in the drawings a feeding device generally designated 2 comprising a tray 3 which has an inclined bottom wall 4 and upstanding side members 5, 5 which provide guides flanking the 'stock 6 which comprises individual sheets or cards of paper 7 arranged shingle fashion on said bottom wall 4.

The tray is supported adjacent to its upper end 9 upon a shaft 10 which is mounted by adjusting mechanism hereinafter described from a pair of upright side plates 11, 11 of a support structure generally indicated 12.

The lower end of the tray is arcuately bevelled on its underside 13 at its discharge end 14 to accommodate the cylindrical peripheries 15 and 16 of the roller 17 and disk 18 of the retards generally designated 20, 20.

Preferably only end retards 20 are provided with both the roller 17 and disk 18 whereas the intermediate retards only have the stationary disk 18.

Each retard 20 comprises an elongated lever or arm member 21 which at its inner end 22 is provided with a pivot opening 22' sleeved on a shaft 23 between a pair of bearing rings 24, 24 which are provided with set screws 25 securing the rings 24 to the shaft 23 against axial or circumferential movement. The shaft 23 extends through openings 26, 26 in bearing blocks 27, 27 which are disposed within horizontally elongated pockets 28, 28 in the interior sides 30 of plate 11. The blocks 27 are slidable between upper and lower ledges 32, 32 and are held in adjusted position by set screws 33 each of which is threaded into and extends vertically through a threaded bore 34 to the upper edge 35 of the related side plate 11. Thus the arms 21 are adjustable toward and away with respect to the edge 14 of the tray.

The intermediate portion of each arm 21 is supported upon a cam 38 which has an eccentric opening 39 pivotally mounting the cam 38 upon a horizontal shaft 40 which extends substantially parallel to shaft 23. Each cam has a pair of annular shoulders 42, 42 at opposite ends thereof closely flanking and engaging opposite edges 43, 43 of the related arm 21.

The outer end of each arm 21 has a laterally offset mounting portion 44 which has a transverse threaded opening 45 into which is threaded an end 46 of a shank 47 of a securing bolt 48, the shank 47 having a shoulder 49 tightly engaging one side 50 of the related portion 44 which abuts through a flange 51 against one side of the stationary disk 18. The opposite side of the dis-k 18 is engaged by a spacer bearing 52 which is sleeved on shank 47 between the disk 18 and the head 53 of the bolt. The bearing sleeve 52 rotatably supports asoft, sponge-like roller 17 which is preferably vulcanized or bonded to a bearing sleeve 54 rotatable about the spacer sleeve 52. The roller 17 is larger diametrically than the disk 18 and has its periphery 15 in engagement with a roller segment or disk 56 of a feed roller 59.

The feed roller 59 has end and intermediate disks 56, 57. The end disks 56 are wider than disks 57 and have an axial extent in excess of the combined extent of the roller and disk 17, 18 of the opposing retard. The roller segments 56, 57 are slightly spaced from the retard disks 18 on the order of slightly less than the thickness of the sheets of stock fed there'between. Thus when a sheet gravitationally moves into the nip 60 (FIG. 1) the disks 56, 57 in rotating in the direction :of the arrow with the shaft 61 to which the disks 56, 57 are secured, withdraw the sheet from the tray. The sheet slides over to the disks 18 and rolls on the rollers 17 which tend to reduce the frictional drag over the retard disks 18 in accordance with the adjustment of the retards as hereinafter described.

As best seen in FIGURE 1, the rollers 17 exert only very light pressure against the lower edges 62 of the cards 7. Therefore during occupancy by the first card being fed, the peripheries of the rollers 17 merely drag under the lower edges 62. However, as soon as the impediment to advance is removed, that is when the first card exists from the feed roller, the next card is positively advanced at its lower edge into the intake nip for positive engagement by the rollers 56, 57 whereupon the top side 63 of the car is pulled under the roller segments 56, 57 and the bottom side 64 of the card rolls on the rollers 18 and with only minimal pressure, if at all, slides over the peripheries 16 of the disks 18.

Each card is guided over a finger 66 which has its inner end 67 provided with a mounting flange 68 sleeved on the end of bolt 48 and tightened between the shoulder 49 and the adjacent side 50 of the portion 44. The vertical flange merges into a horizontal flange 70 which has an upper card-supporting surface 71. The flange 70 has a distal or free end 72 which is curved downwardly below a horizontal guide and support plate 73 (FIG. 1) which is connected between the side frame members 11. The plate 73, which is preferably of less width than the length of the stock issuing from the magazine under the feed or separating roller 59. The plate 73 extends to the intake nip 75 of .a pair of driven pull-out rollers 76, 77 which have shafts 78, 79 journalled from the side plates 11, 11. The shafts 78, 79 are connected to disks or bodies 80, 81 of elastomer material such as rubber, neoprene, etc.

The retards are spring biased and individually vertically adjustable by spring loaded cam means 84 which includes a pair of arms 85, 85 pivoted at their rear ends on coaxial bolt and nut assemblies 86, 86 which are connected to respective walls 11, 11. The arms or links 85 carry intermediate their ends the shaft 40 therebetween upon which are mounted the beforementioned earns 38 which are underposed beneath the respective retard arms 21. Each cam 38 has a radial threaded hole 87 which admits an adjusting screw 88 which engages shaft 40. Thus each cam is adjustable circumferentially to position its related retard at various elevations depending upon the profile of the paper stock being fed through the metering or feed roller 59. The cam assembly 84 is spring biased upwardly in its entirety by a pair of tension springs 90, 90 each of which hooks at its lower end as at 91 to the front end 92 of the related arm 85 and at its upper end is hooked over a pin 93 extending from one side of a ratchet wheel 94 rotatably mounted on a shaft 95 which extends between the plate members 11, 11 and is secured thereto at an elevation above the discharge end of the tray. Each ratchet wheel 94 has its teeth 95 engaged by a manually movable gravity biased pawl 96 pivoted on a pin 97 to the related side plate 11. Thus when either end of the cam assembly has to be urged upwardly under more pressure because of the variance in thickness or physical property namely, texture, or glitter, smooth applique, etc. the wheel 94 is rotated in a direction stretching the spring that is in FIG. 1 in a counterclockwise direction. To release pressure, the pawl is manually swung away from the wheel allowing the spring to relax as the wheel turns down. Upward movement of the cam means and thus the retards is limited by a pair of vertically adjustable banking blocks 98 recessed in grooves 99 in respective side plates 11. The blocks 98 .are provided with screw studs 99 which move in vertical grooves 100 in respective side plates 11. The studs 99' have nuts 100' threaded thereon which lock against the external sides 101 of plates 11.

The forward end of the tray 3 has a pair of arms 104, 104 fixed thereto along its lateral edges and arms 104 lie against the interior sides of the respective plates 11 and are pivotally connected thereto as by bolts 105.

The inclination of the tray is adjusted by moving stay rod 106 upwardly of, or downwardly, said rod 106 having a bearing block 107 at its upper end pivoted on rear tray shaft 10 and at its lower end being adjustably connected to a screw set bearing block 108 mounted on shaft 110 which is connected at opposite ends to the plates 11. The trap 3 includes a pair of laterally adjustable side guides 5, 5 which extend the full length of the tray and at their lower edges 113 rest upon the bottom wall 4.

The rear end 114 of each member 5 has a depending wide block with a horizontal opening 115 therethrough which admits a close fitting horizontal rod 116 therethrough the rod 116 being connected to depending flanges 117 at the lateral edges of wall 4.

Normally the retards function to hold each sheet of stock, as its lower edge descends thereon, in position for engagement by the metering roll 49. Infrequently the stock may have a texture or ragged edge which inhibits movement of the stock to the intake nip of the roller 59. For such occurrence, I provide a novel retard shield 120 which comprises an inverted U-shaped metal or plastic structure including a top wall 121 and a pair of dependent flanges 122, 122 which respectively overlies the top side 123 of the related retard arm and flank the sides thereof in tight grasping engagement therewith. The lower and front and rear edge of the flanges 122 are of arcuate form as seen at 124. The shield is adapted to be moved from under the lower edge 14 of the tray beneath the bevel 13 and over the related retard disk 18 to provide a smooth surface over which the card may slide as guided by the roller 17 if there be one alongside disk 18.

Thus a novel, and eflicient mechanism has been provided which accurately feeds stock and particularly cards without marking.

It will be understood that the foregoing description is of a preferred embodiment of the invention and it is not intended that the invention disclosed hereby be limited thereto but to the broad aspects set forth in the appended claims.

It will be understood that the metering roller is driven as desired, that is to feed continuously or at intervals to discharge a preset number of sheets. The durometer of disk 17 and rollers 56, 57 is preferably over fifty and the sponge roller 17 has a density of between 30 to 50 durometer.

I claim:

1. A feeding mechanism comprising a tray having an inclined bottom with a lower discharge edge, retard means disposed along said edge and comprising a stationary element and a sponge-like rotary element of soft rubber-like material extending radially outwardly of the periphery of the stationary element, a metering roller rotatable on an axis extending transversely of the tray along the discharge edge thereof and having a body with a cylindrical surface disposed in deforming engagement with said sponge-like element and driving the same and slightly spaced from said stationary element, said rotary element disposed in intercepting relation to articles on said tray for advancing the same to said metering roller.

2. A feeding mechanism comprising a tray having an inclined bottom with a lower discharge edge, retard means disposed along said edge and comprising first and second retarding elements, said first element having a friction surface disposed in intercepting relation to articles descending to said edge from the tray, said second element being diametrically larger and of substantially lower durometer than the first element and in position to initially intercept each article as it descends from the tray and deflect under the weight of the article until the article engages the first element.

3. The invention according to claim 2 and a driven metering roller positioned in rolling contact with said second element and spaced from the first element a distance substantially the thickness of the article being passed between the metering roller and the retard means.

4. The invention according to claim 3 and means pivotally supporting said retard means for swinging movement about an axis generally parallel to the metering roller,

and means yieldably biasing said retard means toward said roller, and adjustable means limiting movement of the retard means toward said roller.

5. The invention according to claim 2 and a metering roller positioned in rolling contact with said second element and spaced from the first element a predetermined distance, means pivotally mounting said retard means for swinging movement toward and away with respect to said roller, means for limiting movement of the retard means toward the roller, and means yieldably biasing the retard means toward the roller comprising a plurality of spring means adjustably and reactively associtaed with the retard means.

6. In a feeding device for paper stock and the like, a tray having an inclined bottom terminating in a lower discharge edge, retard means extending beyond said edge in intercepting relation to stock issuing from the tray, said retard means comprising a stationary disk and a feed roller, an arm supported below the tray, means fixing the disk to the arm and serving as a shaft for the feed roller, a metering roller rotatably mounted in opposing relation to said retard means and having rolling engagement with the feed roller in driving relation thereto, and a guide finger adjustably connected to said arm by said means fixing the disk thereto, said finger extending below the metering roller for guiding the stock therebeneath.

7. The invention according to claim 6 and said feed roller being of larger diameter than the disk and of sponge-like elastomer material.

8. The invention according to claim 7 and spring means yieldably biasing said retard means toward the metering roller and comprising separate adjustments at opposite ends of said discharge edge for varying the resistance of the discharge means to separation from the metering roller in accordance with the nature of the stock passing between the retard means and the metering roller.

9. In a device for feeding stacks of sheets of paper of varying texture, profile and frictional characteristics comprising means for storing the stack of paper shinglefashion and having a discharge area, means for retarding the discharge of the sheets, means for individually dis charging the sheets from the discharge area comprising a plurality of retards of different frictional characteristics disposed in intercepting relation to sheets exiting from the storing means through said discharge area, at least one of said retards comprising a soft sponge-like roller, larger than the other retards and of elastomer material having a deflection characteristic such that a sheet of the paper will deflect the material to a depth suflicient for the sheet to engage the other of the retards.

10. The invention according to claim 9 and a timed driven feed roller cooperatively associated with said retards for peeling sheets of material as they deposit thereon and having rolling driving engagement with the retard roller.

11. In a sheet material dispensing device, a dispenser having a discharge area, retard means along the discharge area in intercepting position to sheets of material issuing from the dispenser, said retard means comprising a plurality of retards spaced along the length of the discharge area and each comprising an arm pivoted at one end on a common axis and a friction assembly mounted on the other end below said discharge area, at least certain of said friction assemblies comprising a fixed element and the other of the retards having a fixed element and a companion rotatable element of soft sponge-like material and of larger diameter than the companion fixed element, a feed roller rotatably mounted in cooperating relation to the retard means and in rolling contact with each rotatable element deflecting and driving the same attendant to the feed roller being driven to pull sheets over the fixed elements into engagement with'the feed roller, and means yieldably biasing the arms toward the feed roller.

12. The invention according to claim 11 and a shaft extending through each arm at said axis, and means supporting the shaft and adjustable toward and away with respect to said roller generally tangentially thereof to vary the disposition of the fixed and rotatable elements with respect thereto.

13. The invention according to claim 12 and means for positioning each of said arms in various circumferentially displaced positions about said axis of pivot thereof so as to vary the profile of the retard means at said discharge area in conformance with the physical characteristics of the sheets of paper to be dispensed.

14. In a feeding mechanism a tray having an inclined bottom with a lower discharge edge, means along said edge for retarding discharge items of material from said edge, and including an arm beneath the tray with a friction element thereon beneath the edge in intercepting relation to said items of material sliding down said bottom, and means mounted on the arm comprising a member having a different coeflicient of friction than said element and selectively positionable over said element to change the retarding characteristics of the retarding means.

15. The invention according to claim 14 and said member being metallic and the friction element being of rubber-like material.

16. The invention according to claim 14 and said element being cylindrical and extending axially transversely of the arm and a pin supporting said element on one end of the arm, and said member being U-shaped in cross-section having a generally fiat top wall of a width slightly larger than the axial width of the element and having a pair of depending flanges embracing the arm therebetween, said member in one position seated on the arm intermediate its ends and in such position having its top Wall overlying the element shielding the same, said flanges having curved lower edge portions accommodating movement of the member lengthwise of the arm with the curved portions riding on the pin in one direction of movement of the member to raise the member over the element.

17. A retard having an elongated element with means at one end for support, a friction member mounted on the other end of the element, and means for changing the frictional characteristics of the retard comprising a member mounted on the retard and made of material having frictional characteristics different than said first mentioned member and selectively positionable in shielding relation thereto.

18. The invention according to claim 17 and said firstmentioned member being cylindrical and mounted on a pin extending transversely of the element, and said second-mentioned member being U-shaped with a light wall and a pair of flanges embracing said element and having arcuate edges engageable with the pin pursuant to movement of the second-mentioned member lengthwise of the element whereupon said wall is caused to override the cylindrical member and cover the same.

19. In a feeding mechanism, a tray having inclined bottom means terminating in a lower discharge edge, side wall members flanking the tray, retard means for said feeding mechanism comprising a bracket member, a retard roller mounted upon one end of the bracket member, certain of said members having elongated slot means therein, a shaft assembly mounting the bracket member and extending into said slot means, adjustable means reactive between said certain of said members and said shaft assembly for adjusting the shaft assembly and therewith the bracket in a direction advancing and retracting said retard roller with respect to said discharge edge of the tray bottom means, eccentric means including a shaft element extending between said wall members, means mounting said shaft element from said wall members, said bracket means having an underedge engageable by the eccentric means, said eccentric mean rotatable about 7 8 the axis of the shaft element and abuttabie with the under- References Cited by the Examiner edge of said bracket meansfor lifting and loyvering the UNITED STATES PATENTS bracket means and thus sa1d retard roller with respect to said discharge edge, spring means biasing the eccen- 2,733,919 2/1956 Anderson 271*10 tric means and the bracket into engagement at said under- 5 2,735,678 2/1956 McKay 271 10 2,759,729 8/1956 Hedlun 27 110 edge.

20. In a feeding device, a tray, and retard means at the discharge end of the tray, and means for varying the re- EVON BLUNK P'mmry Examiner sistance of said retard means. A. C. HODGSON, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A FEEDING MECHANISM COMPRISING A TRAY HAVING AN INCLINED BOTTOM WITH A LOWER DISCHARGE EDGE, RETARD MEANS DISPOSED ALONG SAID EDGE AND COMPRISING A STATIONARY ELEMENT AND A SPONGE-LIKE ROTARY ELEMENT OF SOFT RUBBER-LIKE MATERIAL EXTENDING RADIALLY OUTWARDLY OF THE PERIPHERY OF THE STATIONARY ELEMENT, A METERING ROLLER ROTATABLE ON ON AXIS EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF THE TRAY ALONG THE DISCHARGE EDGE THEREOF AND HAVING A BODY WITH A CYLINDRICAL SURFACE DISPOSED IN DEFORMING ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID SPONGE-LIKE ELEMENT AND DRIVING THE SAME AND SLIGHTLY SPACED FROM SAID STATIONARY ELEMENT, SAID ROTARY ELEMENT DISPOSED IN INTERCEPTING RELATION TO ARTICLES ON SAID TRAY FOR ADVANCING THE SAME TO SAID METERING ROLLER. 